EVERY SIGNATURE MATTERS - THIS BILL MUST PASS!
CLICK - GOAL - 100,000 NEW SIGNATURES! 75,000 SIGNATURES HAVE ALREADY BEEN SUBMITTED TO GOVERNOR CUOMO!
EFF Urges Court to Block Dragnet Subpoenas Targeting Online Commenters
CLICK! For the full motion to quash: http://www.eff.org/files/filenode/hersh_v_cohen/UOJ-motiontoquashmemo.pdf
Sunday, January 11, 2026
Surgeon General Vivek Murthy issued an advisory on social media and youth mental health that described “a profound risk of harm to the mental health and well-being of children and adolescents.”
Smartphones Associated with Depression, Obesity, and Poor Sleep in Adolescents
Editor’s Note: Dr. Eli Cahan is a former editor of the Section on Pediatric Trainees (SOPT) feature in Pediatrics, and an investigative journalist who covers child welfare. He is also a neonatology fellow at Stanford University. - Rachel Y. Moon, MD, Associate Editor, Pediatrics
When the topic turns to smartphones, every parent of a teen I’ve spoken to recently reacts the same: ugh. The fragmented conversations, devoid of words and full of swipes. The bedtimes, come and gone. The battles at the dinner table, in the car, during the walk in the park, and on and on.
As smartphones have proliferated—according to data from the Pew Research Center, nearly 95% of teens reported having access to one—so too have concerns about their potential impact on the cognitive and socioemotional development, as well as physical and mental health, of youth. For example, a July study in MMWR found that “teenagers with higher non-schoolwork screen use were more likely to experience a series of adverse health outcomes” across physical and mental health domains.
While further research is needed to understand what exactly is so toxic about smartphone use, experts repeatedly point to the impact of social media. In 2023, Surgeon General Vivek Murthy issued an advisory on social media and youth mental health that described “a profound risk of harm to the mental health and well-being of children and adolescents.” The American Academy of Pediatrics’ Center of Excellence on Social Media and Youth Mental Health warns of exposure to “a wide range of apps and websites that aren’t intended for children and teens” such as social media platforms—which in turn present risks to the health of exposed youth.
Still, large-scale data on the longitudinal health impacts of smartphone ownership in adolescents is lacking. Research by Dr. Ran Barzilay and colleagues from University of Pennsylvania, University of California Berkeley, and Columbia University being early released this week in Pediatrics adds to that data (10.1542/peds.2025-072941). They analyzed 2016-2022 national data on more than 10,500 9-16-year-olds from 21 sites, to test associations of smartphone ownership and age of first smartphone acquisition and adverse health outcomes at age 12.
The authors found that odds of depression, obesity, and insufficient sleep were 31%, 40%, and 62% higher in 12-year-olds who owned a smartphone than those who didn’t. They also found that the odds of obesity and insufficient sleep increased almost 10% for each additional year of owning a smartphone before age 12. Lastly, they found that 13-year-olds who owned a smartphone were 57% more likely to meet diagnostic criteria for mental illness.
“No clear evidence exists on the explanation for the deleterious associations between smartphone ownership and youth development,” the authors write.
However, they add, “smartphone use contributes to fragmented attention, increased checking behaviors (which may impact relationships), and extended use (particularly in the evenings), which may lead to both mental and physical health challenges and less sleep, especially during a period of development whereby many youth may not have sufficiently mature self-regulatory skills to make optimal choices regarding their smartphone use.”
Those interested in learning more about the health impacts of smartphone use in adolescents today would be well served to review the article and its corresponding video abstract in this month’s issue of Pediatrics.